Fact or Fiction

As regular MSW readers know, I left my long-time publisher (17 books!) for St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur earlier this year. My last Ballantine book, IF I SHOULD DIE, was released two weeks ago and is still available (or should be!) wherever books are sold. DIE is the third Lucy Kincaid book, but not the last as SMP has picked up the series. And on Monday, I turned in the final revised version of SILENCED, on sale 4.24.12. Whew! Though I sweated bullets on every page (literally and figuratively) in the end, I’m happy with the story. And that’s all you, the readers will hopefully see!

Recently, I was invited to join the SMP Romance Writers loop. I hesitated for a day or two because I was on a similar loop when I first sold, it was inactive, then went away. But I’m glad I joined, because these are an amazing group of writers (almost as amazing as the writers I share this blog with!) I decided that today, while I recuperate from a marathon writing session and decorate for Christmas, to introduce you all to some of the SMP authors (new and old) and play a fun game while we’re at it. These aren’t all the authors at SMP or even on the loop, but I only gave them two days to get me their statements. I hope the missing gals will stop by and introduce themselves!

Here’s how we play:

Below are fun facts about the authors that they provided. Except … Santa’s elves came in and changed FIVE of the facts to fiction. It’s up to you to guess which FIVE statements are FALSE. Post your answers in the comments section and the person who correctly identifies the most false statements wins. (In the event of a tie, I’ll use Random.org to generate the winner.) BUT if you don’t like games, that’s OKAY! Because ALL commenters will be entered in a random drawing for a second prize. Just tell me a fun fact about YOU that most people don’t know 🙂 It’s okay, we’re all friends here. We won’t tell!

And what are the prizes? Each winner gets a $25 gift card to the on-line book store of their choice to buy themselves an early Christmas present. 🙂

Now, in the order from current releases to future releases …

CELESTE BRADLEY paid her way through art school by taking off her clothes!A Courtesan’s Guide to Getting Your Man w/Susan Donovan, out now!

ALLISON BRENNAN was handcuffed and held at gunpoint last summer.If I Should Die, out now!

LOUISA EDWARDS is a direct descendent of Lyndon B. JohnsonSome Like It Hot out this week!

Before turning to writing, ELIZABETH ESSEX used to be an underwater archaeologist.The Danger of Desire, out now!

ELLIE JAMES broke the law while researching the second book in the Midnight Dragonfly series….Shattered Dreams, out this week!

KIERAN KRAMER has been on two games shows–and lost both times.If You Give a Girl a Viscount Out now!

CJ LYONS has been face to face with a serial killer. Face to Face (Hart and Drake Book #3) Out now!

In her younger days when they were both single and looking, JULIANNE MacLEAN went sailing one sunny, breezy afternoon with Prince Edward.Seduced by the Highlander, out now!

GINA ROBINSON once saw a Bigfoot footprint at her family’s homestead property in Idaho.The Spy Who Left Me, out now!

CARIS ROANE was a Smithsonian tour guide one summer.Born of Ashes, January 2012

A coastal resident descended from a long line of seafarers, MANDA COLLINS is deeply resistant to living inland and thinks that weather forecasts without tide forecasts are “weird” and “unsettling.”How to Dance with a Duke, February 2012

DONNA GRANT had an encounter with a ghost in a Scottish castle.Darkest Highlander, February, 2012

Not even going to try to guess T/F statements. Fun fact about me… Let’s see. Got an A in Murder in college (no, everyone knows that, it’s too good a story not to tell). OK, here’s one: Despite a very public anti-any-sport position (why, yes, I do have the “The only sports worth watching are the ones where the athletes are paid less than I am” shirt), I can get easily sucked into watching any sport on TV.

wow, what a great bunch of women. you are in SUCH good company, allison! I learned long ago that writers are capable of *anything* so I’m not going to even venture a guess. Especially that Celeste Bradley – if you told me she’d been a spy, a ballet diva and queen of a principality I’d believe it all 🙂

Just to be all European (where we still have principalities–Liechtenstein! Monaco! Andorra (sort-of)!), the ruling monarch is technically a Prince/Princess, not King/Queen. We take our royalty very seriously 😛

In no particular order
Allison Brennan, mostly cause I think I would remember hearing something like that about one of my favorite authors.
Julianne McLean, mostly cause I would find that too hilarious to believe, although she is cool, and he is cute, hmmm
Leigh Evans
Beth Ciotta
Darynda Jones
these are my best guesses, that my truth detector gave me, very very hard, lol. All you authors are so good at making written words seem true.

Hmmm, a little known fact about me… I get emotional when I see someone in a military uniform. I always want to go thank them for their sacrifice and service but I am so choked up I know I would never get the words out.

That is so sweet, Kim! I have a thing about military uniforms too. And firemen in uniform, and policemen … LOL. Seriously, though, men and women in uniform are usually doing the tough jobs, often thankless. A smile would be welcome I’m sure!

Oh man, I don’t even know where to start with these so I’ll have to go with a fun fact about myself. Hmm… I love to play practical jokes. I am always looking for a new way to scare my husband. He makes the best girly scream ever 🙂

Anyone that knows me learns pretty quickly that I was born without a sense of direction. I get lost easily. I’ve gotten lost in 5 different countries. It’s a good thing I pick up languages quickly because I always need help finding my way around. I can’t live without my GPS!

I have the world’s most faulty BS radar, so I won’t even attempt the T/F statements. I always hated T/F questions on exams… I tend to overthink!

Little known fact: I once made my upper school literature teacher feel so bad for me by going into major meltdown mode (as in shove-my-head-between-my-knees-before-I-pass-out-from-balwing meltdown) during one of my International Baccalaureate oral exams that he not only let me redo the exam, but he let me pick the Hamlet passage on which to do the commentary & let me prepare it at home. Definitely a shining moment in my illustrious academic career :P. I still feel so bad for him… dealing with an over-emotional, over-stressed, terrified-of-public-speaking 18-year-old during the brutal two-week culmination of two years worth of studies could not have been pleasant.

A little known fact about me:
I am a chronic “editor”. I can’t NOT subconsciously pick up on typographical errors, spelling errors, grammatical errors and word tense errors in pretty much everything I read. The most humorous thing about this- I passed HIGH SCHOOL English/Literature by the skin of my teeth (mind you it was not from lack of learning anything, it was due mostly to the fact that I despised doing homework ). I am sure there are publication companies out there that hate me because I usually tend to send them all of the errors I find that slip past into publication!

The statements were all so funny I couldn’t pick 5 (although I do remember a story about Allison, the FBI & a hostage role-play; just sayin’) so a fact y’all don’t know…
My neighbor let me use his great big honkin’ John Deere (with 9 million buttons & levers) to cut the field in front of our new cabin and I didn’t wreck it! So I can *officially* drive a tractor.

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.